i think it's called love
by pinktrixie
Summary: A Season 3 AU where Santana and Brittany's storylines make sense and all that jazz.


_chapter one. _

Santana curled further into Brittany, her leg thrown over Brittany's hip, her nose pressed against her neck. The cicadas in the backyard chattered noisily, providing background noise as the two girls rested in Brittany's old hammock.

Brittany swept her hand down the back of Santana's head, her fingers tugging a bit at the braids she had done earlier.

The pair had stumbled back from their second grueling Cheerios practice of the day, bruised and exhausted. Sue put them through their paces in her attempt to weed out any possible weak links. It had practically done Brittany's nerves in as she watched Santana get launched in the air by a couple of incoming freshmen while Brittany stood on the sidelines working on conditioning; and Brittany had told Santana that frequently as they drove back.

Santana had merely smiled tiredly at Brittany and rested her hand on Brittany's thigh as she drove.

"You excited for school to start, San?"

Santana blinked drowsily up at Brittany. "I guess so. I can't believe it's our last year already."

"What if everything changes?" Brittany's bottom lip jutted out in a pout.

Santana brushed her thumb over Brittany's protruding bottom lip, marveling at its softness. "Everything is gonna change. We're gonna get out of this town and live somewhere amazing and do something with our lives." Santana shifted in the hammock to straddle Brittany's abdomen. "Promise me, Britt?" Santana offered her pinkie out for the girl beneath her.

"I promise, San." They locked pinkies as Santana leaned down for a kiss.

"Love you," Santana mumbled against Brittany's lips as if it would break if she said it too loudly. Brittany's eyes lit up with joy as they did every time Santana told her. Brittany repeated the phrase and Santana's heart felt like a bird trying to take flight.

It had taken them so long to get to this place, probably even longer than necessary. But what was important was that they were here now.

"San?"

"Mhm?" hummed Santana into Brittany's jawline.

"I just wanna say I'm so happy right now."

Santana flashed a brilliant smile down at her girlfriend, bracing herself on Brittany's shoulders. "Me too, Britt." She leaned down for a less than innocent kiss as Brittany's hand ghosted underneath her shirt. Santana nipped at Brittany's jaw teasingly, delighting in the groan she drew from the other girl.

She ground her hips down into Brittany, who couldn't move much with the sway of the hammock.

Brittany tugged on her hair until their lips met again, her tongue teasing Santana's bottom lip.

"Girlies! Where are you?"

"Oh fuck!"

"San!"

Santana blinked up at Brittany from the ground beneath the hammock. She let out a groan as her tailbone ached from the fall. Glancing over her shoulder, she found Brittany's mom making her way across the yard towards them.

She was pretty sure they were sheltered by the small grove of trees, but that didn't stop the brief swell of fear in the pit of her stomach.

"Are you okay?" Brittany asked as she climbed down from the hammock, offering a hand out for Santana. Santana ignored the offered hand and the instantly hurt look on Brittany's face and pushed herself to her feet.

"I'm fine, Britt."

"Oh there you girls are. I got worried that you had gotten lost!" Brittany's mom tittered as she found the two, one covered in dirt, one looking more than a bit wounded.

Santana managed a half smile. "Sorry, we just dozed off a bit and I fell out. Nothing's broken or anything. Just a bit sore from Cheerios." She resolutely ignored the fact that Brittany was watching her with pained, sad eyes and focused on Mrs. Peirce in front of her.

"Of course, well, dinner's ready and Ashley's starved." Mrs. Peirce turned away, blissfully ignorant of the looks exchanged between the two girls.

Santana caught Brittany's wrist and tugged her back a bit before she could follow her mom back into the house.

"Britt, I'm so, so sorry, I panicked." Santana's voice cracked a bit as she brushed her fingers over Brittany's pulse point. "I'm sorry. I'm trying."

Brittany cradled the other girl's jaw with her free hand, drawing her gaze upward. "I know, babe, I know you're trying. I know you're scared about school and everything. But it'll be fine. We've got each other. And we love each other and everything is going to be magical, okay?"

Santana nodded, pushing down the panic and stress that bubbled in her chest. Brittany was right, everything was going to be magical. She had Brittany and everything would be fine.

"I love you to Neptune and back."

"Neptune?" Santana's nose wrinkled slightly as Brittany intertwined their fingers, leading Santana back towards the house. "I think you mean moon, Britt."

Brittany giggled, "No, I mean Neptune. Neptune is between 2.7 and 2.9 billion miles from Earth and the moon is only 384,400 kilometers from Earth. And I want you to know that I love you the most, so I love you to Neptune and back."

"You're amazing, you know that, right, Brittany?"

"Well, duh."

xx

"Do you think Quinn was objected by aliens over the summer?"

"Huh, what? Oh, no, I don't think she was _abducted _by aliens, B, I think she's just gone off the deep end finally. All of that puritanical crap finally cracked her."

Brittany pouted at Santana, pushing her carrots on to Santana's plate. "I don't understand how you can just pretend like Quinn's fine. She used to be our best friend. We were the Unholy Trinity."

"Yeah, and then she became a huge bitch-"

"You're kinda a bitch too."

"- and got herself knocked up by _my _boyfriend-"

"You're gay, babe."

"-and told Coach about my surgery and got me knocked to the bottom of the pyramid-"

"Well, that's true, I guess."

"-and she's just so judgemental."

Really, Santana did miss Quinn. She loved Brittany, but she missed her other best friend. It was different before. And not to be melodramatic or whatever, but Quinn was like one of her only friends. She wasn't exactly an approachable person. Brittany had become her friend out of sheer willpower and stubbornness when they were four years old, something Santana was eternally grateful for. But Quinn and Santana actually had more in common than they'd probably ever admit.

"I know you have hair stuff for her hidden in your locker," Brittany cut in to Santana's introspection. "You're actually such a softie."

Ignoring the heat on her cheeks, Santana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, just don't tell anyone?"

"Of course not, you're my softie. So we'll talk to Quinn after practice?"

"Fine, I have a meeting with Coach before practice, so I'll meet you there?"

As Brittany smiled at her and nodded, Santana felt that little bubble of hope that had grown over the summer rise in her chest. Maybe things would really be different this year. Maybe she could finally have it all. She had the girl, she had the popularity, now just to secure her place as head of the Cheerios.

xx

She may have spoken too soon.

Everything was distinctly not okay, if the tightness in her chest was anything to go by.

Sue knew somehow. How could she know? Santana was so careful. Brittany was so careful.

They hadn't told anyone that they were finally dating, keeping it secret.

How did Sue know?

Santana pushed her way into an empty classroom, trying to regulate her breathing. Sue knew, Sue knew, and she was going to tell everyone. She would tell her parents and all of Santana's careful plans would fall apart. Everyone would know and everyone would hate her.

But Sue would keep her secret if Santana worked to destroy Glee Club. A year ago, Santana would've been completely fine with that. But now, after everything? It felt like a betrayal. Brittany would hate it. She loved Glee. And then she would hate Santana. And leave Santana.

Santana wasn't even aware of her tears until a tissue brushed against her wet cheeks.

She couldn't regulate her breathing at all. There was so much pressure against her chest.

"'Tana, baby, I need you to breathe, can you do that for me?"

Brittany. Brittany was here.

She pressed herself into Brittany, desperate for her warmth, for her warm, slightly tropical shampoo smell. She needed to reassure herself that Brittany was still with her, for however long that may be, she added pessimistically.

"Wanna talk to me, baby?"

"Sue, Sue, she knows."

"Knows what?"

"About me, maybe about us, but definitely about me."

"Okay…?"

Santana pushed herself out of Brittany's arms, her vision still blurry from tears. "You don't get it!"

"Then explain it to me," Brittany said flatly. Her tight posture and narrow eyes indicated her displeasure with Santana's little tantrum.

Santana tugged at her ponytail. "She knows that I'm, you know, a lesbian. And she made me captain with Becky of all people-"

"I like Becky."

"-and she wants me to destroy the Glee Club."

"And you said no, right?" Santana spun around to look at Brittany, her dark eyes wide and wild. "San, c'mon, you said no."

"Britt, she knows about me. She could ruin everything. I'll just go along with it. I don't actually want to destroy Glee. You know I love Glee, even though most of the people are barely tolerable. Please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad, Santana, I'm just disappointed. You've been working so hard, I don't want to lose that."

Santana grasped at Brittany's hands. "You won't, I swear. But, B, you know, we, I need Cheerios for everything to work. This," she gestured between their uniformed chests, "gives us protection. Nobody is going to come after us so long as we're on the Cheerios. So if I don't go along with Sue, we won't have anything."

"We'll have each other, always."

"I know. I know. I'm yours, always, Britt." Brittany dropped a brief kiss to her lips, settling some of Santana's nerves. "I'm just going to go along with it. I'll do just enough to keep Sue off my back, but I'm not actually trying to destroy Glee or anything."

"I'm always gonna be on your side, you know that, right, San?"

xx

Brittany wanted to scream at someone. How could they all turn on Santana so quickly? Sure, she was abrasive, but she had gotten better. She had really tried to be nicer to all of the Glee people.

And maybe lighting a piano on fire wasn't the best move, but she needed to do something big to impress Sue.

And maybe the whole piano thing had been Brittany's idea when they had been watching Mythbusters and snuggling instead of doing homework.

She had been genuinely curious if the fire would be purple or not. But Santana hadn't let her be involved with the actual lighting of the piano.

("Your hair's too pretty to be near fire," Santana had teased, tangling her fingers in Brittany's hair. "Plus, you've got your whole innocent thing that would be marred by arson."

"I'll show you innocent," giggled Brittany, rolling on top of her girlfriend.)

"I say good riddance. She always had a bad attitude. And honestly, I'm not sure if her vocals were up to par." Rachel tittered to Finn, who stared at her with his stupid, big cow eyes. Other members of the club voiced their agreement and Brittany just sat there, looking at the door where Santana had stormed out.

She knew how much Santana actually cared about the Glee Club. How she had been practicing for weeks to come out to them as a sort of test run of coming out in general. How she had been ready to trust them with her biggest secret.

And how it would actually devastate her to know how they all were talking about her.

"I'm leaving." The words were out of her mouth before her brain could catch up and her legs had already pushed her out of the plastic chair.

"Brittany, we still have a whole practice this afternoon," Mr. Shuester said, glancing up from his pile of sheet music.

"Okay, are you guys practicing for the Bash Santana Lopez competition this year? I didn't know the category for sectionals was Talk About Your Teammate Behind Their Back? Nobody told me."

"C'mon Britt, you know she's horrible to everyone, like all the time," Artie called out, holding his hands up as if to profess his innocence.

"She's not!" Brittany fought the urge to stomp her foot. "She actually really likes Glee. And she likes-slash-tolerates all of you. And you're all so mean to her. You've never even tried to be her friend. I don't understand you guys. You all complain about how everybody picks on you, but you don't even support each other. At least, Santana is upfront about everything."

"Brittany, I think everybody's just upset about Santana's behavior," injected Mr. Shue as the rest of the club stared at Brittany like she had grown a second head. Which like she might've, but she was pretty sure she would've noticed. "And given that she has sided with Sue, I can't blame them."

"Yeah, Brittany, she's just one of Sue's, like, what's the word?" Finn turned to his girlfriend.

"Minions? Lackeys? Henchmen?"

"Sure, yeah. She wants to destroy the Glee club and Santana is helping her."

"All of you are so stupid!" Brittany actually stamped her foot this time. "I'm not feeling well, Mr. Shue. I'm going home."

The teacher's brow furrowed slightly. "Um, okay, I suppose. We'll see you back here tomorrow."

Brittany rushed out of the classroom, her heart pounding in her chest.

She swallowed hard as she found her girlfriend angrily shoving books into her bag, then slamming her locker shut, the sound echoing in the empty hallway.

"Santana?" She called out, not wanting to spook her.

Santana looked away from her bag, her shoulders sagging in relief at the sight of Brittany. "Hey," Santana croaked out. "Shouldn't you be in Glee?"

"I'm skipping. It's no fun without you." Brittany offered her pinky out to Santana who took it gratefully, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Everyone sucks but us."

"Damn straight."

"But you're gay," Brittany whispered conspiratorially. Santana let out a loud laugh, bumping her shoulder with Brittany's. "What? It's true."

"Never change, Britt."

The pair continued to giggle as they rounded the corner to the entrance. But Santana froze as she saw Sue standing there. Sue's gaze fell to their interlocked pinkies and one of her eyebrows lifted in interest.

"Shouldn't you two be singing about your feelings right now?"

Brittany pushed through the fear their coach invoked in her as she felt Santana stiffen besides her. "Mr. Schue kicked Santana out because she lit a piano on fire."

"Ah, yes, that little bit of theater was inspired, Sandbags. Pity it cost you the insiders' angle on that merry band of idiots. Bubbles, you're up." She nodded to Brittany, who's expression creased in confusion.

Santana shifted protectively in front of Brittany. "Coach, c'mon, I can easily talk my way back into Glee Club. You know Mr. Schue's soft. If I just go and cry a bit, he's gonna crumble. Brittany doesn't need to be involved. She doesn't have a conviving bone in her body." As she spoke, Santana's grip on Brittany's hand increased until it felt like she was trying to crush her hand.

Sue looked at the pair of them appraisingly. "Hmf, fine, you get another chance at the Glee Club. Best run along then, Mata Hari. I expect results, otherwise, poor, sweet, stupid Brittany here will have to do it herself."

Brittany tried to squeeze Santana's hand back as she felt a shiver rack Santana's body when Sue brushed past them.

"San?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine, Britt. I just don't want you to have to get involved."

"I know, you're protecting me, like always." Brittany looped their pinkies together again as they walked out into the parking lot. "But I don't want you to be sad about Glee Club. You're a really good singer, even if Rachel said you weren't."

"What a stuck-up little brat," groused Santana as she threw her bag into her car.

"And even though Coach doesn't like them, I think you have great boobs. Like seriously, top notch. Like if I knew how to, I'd write poetry like that guy, what's his name? Shakesqueer?" Santana opened her mouth as if to correct Brittany, but just shook her head, a bemused smile on her lips. "I totally would. They're like the best I've ever seen."

"You're my favorite person in the world, Brittany."

"Right back atcha." She cocked a finger gun at her girlfriend, delighting at the laugh she managed to draw out. "So, can we go get ice cream since we're skipping Glee?"

"Of course, babe."

"You're the best." Brittany squeezed Santana's hand on the gear shift. "One thing, why did Sue call you a mariachi?"

xx

**hope you all enjoyed! **

**this came out of a hungover rewatch of the show and i realized that like while there are some good parts of season 3, most of it is kinda meh ? so this will try to resolve that and will defs diverge from canon at points. **

**lemme know what you think ! **

**xx **

**b**


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